Studies in the News is a very current compilation of items significant to the Legislature and Governor's Office. It is created weekly by the State Library's Research Bureau to supplement the public policy debate in California's Capitol. To help share the latest information with state policymakers, these reading lists are now being made accessible through the State Library's website. This week's list of current articles in various public policy areas is presented below.

Service to State Employees:

When available, the URL for the full text of each item is provided.

California State Employees may contact the State Information & Reference Center (916-654-0206; cslsirc@library.ca.gov) with the SITN issue number and the item number [S#].

All other interested individuals should contact their local library - the items may be available there, or may be borrowed by your local library on your behalf.

["In 2003 California's agricultural exports increased 14 percent over 2002, reaching $7.5 billion, the highest value for the past six years in real terms. The data reported in this report ... are the product of a seven-year collaborative effort between the Agricultural Issues Center and the Agricultural Export Program of the California Department of Food and Agriculture to develop accurate estimates of the value of California agricultural products shipped to international markets."]

["If maintained as a working landscape instead of being converted to urban uses, the land can provide such open space benefits for the general population as scenic views, natural habitat, flood control, ground water recharge, and greenbelts between urban communities."]

["This report summarizes the best scientific information available on indoor air pollution, including: information on common indoor pollutants and their sources; the potential health impacts of indoor pollutants, and associated costs; existing regulations and practices; options for mitigation in schools, homes, and non-industrial workplaces.]

["One area of consensus is that any steps taken to control emissions should do so at the lowest possible cost. Two different forms of economic incentives could achieve that goal: one would reduce emissions by setting a price on them, and the other would cap the overall level of emissions. But given current information about the potential for near-term emissions to trigger abrupt and catastrophic damages, the price approach is more likely than a cap to maximize the difference between the policy's total benefits and total costs."]

["The Bush administration's 'Clear Skies' proposal to rewrite the nation's chief air-quality rules for power plants would not reduce pollution as much as existing Clean Air Act regulations, according to an interim report.... The New Source Review rules, in effect since 1977, require power plants to install costly upgrades to reduce emissions if the plants are being upgraded.... The Clear Skies legislation would establish a national 'cap and trade' program for three major pollutants -- mercury, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide." Los Angeles Times (January 14, 2005) A21.]

["The report reviews available information on transgenic rice and describes the potential impacts on grower adoption in California, including market-acceptance issues.... Environmental regulations for rice production and potential environmental impacts of the new technology are evaluated."]

["Brownfields are properties whose use may be hindered by the threat of contamination. Cleaning up and redeveloping these properties can protect human health and the environment and provide economic benefits.... GAO was asked to: 1) obtain stakeholders' views on EPA's contribution to brownfield cleanup and redevelopment; 2) determine the extent to which EPA measures program accomplishments; and 3) obtain views on options to improve or complement EPA's program."]

["World temperatures could surge in just two decades to a threshold likely to trigger dangerous disruptions to the earth's climate, the WWF environmental group said. It said the Arctic region was warming fastest, threatening the livelihoods of indigenous hunters by thawing the polar ice-cap and driving species like polar bears towards extinction by the end of the century." Rueters (January 31, 2005) 1.]

["The report provides an overview of the sources of uncertainty that CBO believes may limit the understanding of climate change and complicate the assessment of policies to address it. The report provides examples of the different ways that analysts have addressed those uncertainties in formulating policy recommendations, illustrates the practical difficulties in doing so, and demonstrates the sensitivity of policy results to variations in assumptions about uncertain elements." Transportation Research Newsletter (February 1, 2005) 1.]

["Reducing carbon dioxide emissions can create or destroy jobs, depending on how the policies are selected and how they are implemented. The proposed Climate Stewardship Act incorporates, explicitly promotes, or allows for certain key policy features that tend to reduce the costs or increase the economic benefits of energy efficiency and environmental programs. These include the use of flexible, market-based approaches; recycling the revenues generated by these systems to reduce distorting taxes on work or investment; gradual phase-in to allow for planning and effective use of capital replacement cycles; and policies to encourage the development, commercialization, diffusion, and adoption of new clean technologies and remove market barriers to their adoption."]

["Politicians ... have increasingly embraced subsidies for hydrogen powered fuel cells as a promising way to move America away from reliance on petroleum.... Given current technology, switching from gasoline to hydrogen-powered fuel cells would greatly increase energy consumption even if the hydrogen were extracted from water rather than from fossil fuels.... Moreover, a transition from gasoline to hydrogen would nearly double net greenhouse gas emissions attributable to passenger vehicles, given the current fuel mix in the electricity sector."]

["Coastal land set aside for the public's benefit has gone unused and may be lost forever under California Coastal Commission practices, according to a report. The commission, responsible for protecting California's coastline, needs better oversight of agreements in which oceanfront landowners offer to give up a portion of property at a future date in exchange for development permits, the report noted." Sacramento Bee (January 20, 2005) 1.]

["A team of researchers has found a contaminant from rocket fuel in women's breast milk at five times the average level found in dairy milk. This first study in breast milk of perchlorate indicates that the majority of breast-feeding infants would be exceeding the safe daily dose set by the National Academy of Sciences.... The number considers exposure to perchlorate only from drinking water and doesn't take into account exposure from food." San Francisco Chronicle (February 23, 2005) 1.]

["In this paper [the authors] use a panel dataset that includes every community water system in the U.S. from 1997-2003 to test the effects of ownership and benchmark competition on regulatory compliance and household water expenditures. [The authors] find that when controlling for water source, location fixed effects, county income, urbanization, and year, there is little difference between public and private systems."]

["Scientists in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say they've been forced to alter or withhold findings that would have led to greater protections for endangered species, according to a survey.... The two groups said the large number of responses reflect concern by many Fish and Wildlife Service employees that political appointees are inappropriately influencing the science that drives decisions to list species and protect their habitat." San Francisco Chronicle (February 10, 2005) 1.]

["This report examines one measure of environmental quality, the level of respiratory hazard associated with estimated outdoor air toxics near school sites. We find that there are indeed differences, with children of color and poorer children seeming to face higher respiratory hazards. Aside from potential health concerns, there is also evidence suggesting a relationship between our respiratory hazard measure and school-level academic performance, even after accounting for many of the other factors that often explain such performance."]

["Environmentalism is a dead movement walking. So goes the theme of a controversial essay circulating among environmentalists and their funding organizations....'What the environmental movement needs more than anything is to take a collective step back to rethink everything,' Shellenberger and Nordhaus argue. 'Our thesis is this: the environmental community's narrow definition of its self-interest leads to a kind of policy literalism that undermines its power.'" San Diego Union-Tribune (December 5, 2004) G3.]

["Carl Pope, the current Sierra Club director, sent grant-makers a remarkable 6,650-word counter-argument to the 'Death of Environmentalism' treatise. He called it divisive, self-serving, less than original, based on 'shoddy research,' and that it has 'actually muddied the water and made the task of figuring out a comprehensive and effective set of strategies more difficult.'" San Diego Union-Tribune (December 5, 2004) G3.]

["Conservation is out there. It's happening. And it's going on amidst commercial activities, especially on private lands.... Why have private conservation efforts been successful? Largely because they concentrate on the end result of environmental protection, rather than the bureaucracy of environmental protection, which doesn't guarantee a result."]

["The study notes that other governments, notably the Netherlands, are replacing prescriptive 'one-size-fits-all' mandates and relying on government-industry covenants that free companies to come up with the most efficient steps to meet strict pollution-control goals. In response, European and Asian firms have begun surging ahead of U.S. corporations in pioneering new pollution-abatement technology and developing alternative-energy sources." Governing (February 2005) 108.]

["The purpose of this policy backgrounder is to compare and contrast clean growth policies in the United States, The European Union, and Japan in order to better understand why other countries are surging ahead of the United States in the quest to capitalize on the global clean technology market."]

["Californians relying on the state's antiquated web of levees for flood protection must pony up to restore the decaying system or risk its catastrophic failure, according to a new report. The report recommends raising money by assessing fees from those who own property in Central Valley floodplains or on higher ground that drains into floodplains." Sacramento Bee (January 14, 2004) 1.]

["Despite the trend to build large housing developments far outside cities, most Americans would rather see investments focus on older suburbs and cities to give them shorter commuting times, sidewalks and places to walk, according to a poll. Prospective home buyers in particular place a high value on limiting commuting times. The survey also finds that most Americans believe traffic problems are more likely to be curbed by improving public transportation and building neighborhoods less dependent on driving than by building more roads." Los Angeles Times (October 24, 2004) A4.]

["In this report, GAO describes 1) the entities that address invasive weeds in natural areas and the funding sources they use; 2) federal state, and local weed management officials' views on the barriers to weed management; and 3) their opinions about how additional resources for weed management could be distributed."]

["[The report] provides a fascinating glimpse at the valley's alternate futures, each vision dependent on a different set of public policy decisions. The report makes clear that while the valley will grow significantly more crowded under any scenario, what it ultimately looks like will depend on decisions that voters and their elected leaders make in the near future. The one thing not in doubt is that the valley will be the destination for much of the state's growth in the next half-century." Sacramento Bee (February 10, 2005) 1.]

["While the widespread use of MTBE has had adverse impacts on water quality, removal of MTBE from gasoline will impose significant costs on society -- in terms of both gasoline production costs and prices and possible impacts on air and water quality by fuel blending components that replace MTBE in gasoline.... Overall, the analysis indicates that continued use of MTBE in California gasoline would have had clear and significant benefits relative to the use of either ethanol or non-oxygenated reformulated gasoline."]

["National parks in California do not get enough money to provide the educational programs and services schoolchildren need, according to a report released by park supporters and backed by various education officials.... The study looked at 11 of the state's 24 National Park Service sites. The study said that they need an additional $7 million to the $12 million they now get annually for educational uses,." Contra Costa Times (January 27, 2005) F4.]

["A new report concludes California's state parks are in big trouble, beset by boondoggle transportation schemes, deferred maintenance and inadequate funding.... The other major threats to parks identified by the report are: development; inadequate resource conservation and restoration; overuse of parklands and concomitant short staffing; and environmentally harmful activities in adjacent areas, such as logging and agriculture. San Francisco Chronicle (February 24, 2005) 1.]

["Pollution is the byproduct of pesticide use, but it doesn't have to be. Wolff said educating farmers is key to cleaning the state's water. But he acknowledges that education doesn't come cheap, so the study suggests raising taxes on pesticides to pay for classes. Farmers who enroll will receive rebates that would more than make up for the tax increase, according to the report." Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (February 16, 2005) 1.]

["Dangers of toxic mercury pollution in the environment have been overstated, says a report issued in anticipation of new regulatory proposals from the Bush administration. The report, written by aides to the committee's majority Republicans, also says no link between mercury from coal-burning power plants and levels of mercury in fish has been scientifically established.... The report said mercury levels in fish have remained constant or declined slightly since the 1970s." Associated Press (February 16, 2004) 1.]

["We find that the benefits of the proposed mercury regulation are likely to fall far short of the cost. In addition the emission trading proposal is roughly $15 billion less expensive than the command-and-control proposal. We offer some general lessons for policy design and political economy that can be gleaned from this case study. We highlight some of the dangers associated with regulating small risks, the importance of considering the appropriate jurisdiction for regulation, and the need to define the policy problem carefully in order to increase potential net benefits."]

["The image of the Owens Valley trades has cast a shadow on water trading -- even when the goal of trades is environmental protection. Gary Libecap takes a second look at the Los Angeles-Owens Valley transfers. He shows that the actual events have become distorted in the retelling, but also reveals the genuine problems that surrounded the negotiations. He applies the lessons to water trades today." PERC Press Release (January 20, 2005) 1.]

["Bay Area freeways have become less congested, transportation authorities said.... The report, based on 2003 driving patterns, showed that congestion in the Bay Area overall was down 18 percent, the fourth consecutive annual decline. It's not that fewer people are driving they are simply on different time schedules and using different stretches of roads." San Francisco Chronicle (January 7, 2005) A1.]

["Solo drivers in certain hybrid cars may soon enjoy a great commuting perk on California freeways: using a carpool lane to zip to work. But is it a good idea? There is growing angst over the hybrid-carpool issue, after a recent study in Virginia where hybrids have clogged the carpool lanes in the suburbs around Washington, D.C., to the point of rendering them useless. Bay Area transportation planners fear a hybrid exemption will kill a parallel attempt to charge solo drivers to use carpool lanes." San Jose Mercury News (January 24, 2005) A1.]

["The NHTSA has released a report that examines repeated experiences of cell phone use during simulated driving. According to the report, the harmful effects of conversing on the phone are very real initially, but may not be as severe with continued practice at the dual task, especially for young or middle-age drivers." Transportation Research Board Newsletter (December 28, 2004) 1.]

["The report indicates that red light running cameras appear to have a positive effect on driver behavior based on findings from previous literature, focus groups, and analyses of collisions and red light running violations. Based on the comparison group study, total, red-light running-related, angle, and rear end collisions were all reduced."]

["Transportation managers must find creative ways to share ideas, information, funding, facilities, and even staff. This has led many agencies to identify partners and to realign roles based on who can best deliver a given service or function. The purpose of this handbook is to provide overall guidance on the characteristics of successful collaboration and on the steps that can be taken to enhance the probability of success."]

["A study recommended building more toll roads throughout California, including a $3 billion toll tunnel through the San Gabriel Mountains to cut travel times between Palmdale and Pasadena. The study said such public-private partnerships, in which private investors help build and maintain roads in exchange for toll revenue, represent the future of traffic relief in the state's congested urban areas." Los Angles Daily News (January 20, 2005) 1.]